Stars: Clint Eastwood, Denis Leary, James Woods, Isaiah Washington, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Bernard Hill, Michael McKean, Diane Venora, Michael Jeter, Mary McCormack, Michael McKean, Marissa Ribisi

Director: Clint Eastwood

Summary: An investigative reporter whose life is set to take a nose dive is offered the chance to interview a man on death row. The original reporter chosen has been killed in a car accident...

In TRUE CRIME, based on Andrew Klavan's novel, Clint Eastwood plays Steve Everett, a capable reporter who's nearly destroyed his career with alcohol and philandering. When he's assigned to do a human interest sidebar on Frank Beechum (Isaiah Washington), who's about to be executed for murder, Everett casually looks into the crime and quickly begins to see how shaky the evidence against Beechum is. As a director, Eastwood is a confident old hand here, and before he builds up the suspense (and don't worry, he will), he takes the time to delve deep into the lives of his characters and explore the sharp contrast between the cynical Everett, who neglects his family for his job, and the circumspect Beechum, whose greatest torment is not the proximity of his own death but the trauma he's causing his loving wife and daughter. Eastwood gives a wonderfully rich performance, and his rapport with James Woods and Denis Leary, as his newspaper bosses, gives the movie a welcome comic jolt. But the scenes of Beechum's family dealing with his fate are where the movie's overwhelming power lies. Eastwood and his screenwriters pull no punches, and it's difficult to bear witness to the painful, simple truth expressed in these scenes.

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Crime Inc.is a documentary series about the Mafia, produced in the mid-1980s by Thames Television. It's fascinating to observe how the intervening years have led the issuing company of this complete release of all seven episodes down the road of the cheapest and nastiest sensationalism: "MEET THE REAL GOODFELLAS" yells the front cover of the two-disc set at its presumably dumbed-down target market, while the back cover shows a string of silly press quotes. The irony is that, for anyone interested in the history of organised crime or in any aspect of the dark undercurrents which pervade American and European society, such lowbrow tactics are completely unnecessary. For Crime Inc.is a good, solid, properly budgeted and carefully researched series, dating from when such things were what viewers could expect as a matter of course.

Much of the fascination of the series stems from the fact that the producers have used as much primary source material as possible, including original archive footage and interviews (many presumably conducted in jail) with defectors from the cause. The most startling revelation, oddly enough, has nothing to do with the secrecy, extortion and torture employed by the organisation--after all, there are plenty of legitimised governments throughout the world who routinely use the same tactics--rather, it's the statement, made very early on, that until informants started going public US police forces would simply deny the fact that the Mafia even existed. Remarkable stuff.

On the DVD:Crime Inc.has no extra features, but with six hours of running time this is hardly cause for complaint. It is presented in standard 4:3 ratio. --Roger Thomas

Aspect Ratio:	1.85 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	The Scene Of The Crime, True Crime True Stories
Subtitles:	Arabic, Bulgarian, English, Romanian
Year:	1999
Release Date:	November 1, 1999
Runtime:	122 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 016323
Keywords:	True, General, Crime, Wide, Screen, Thriller
Genre:	Thriller